A 2005 study from the Kentucky Arts Council evaluating the status of arts education in public schools across Kentucky found a serious problem in the reduction of arts education across the state. Out of the 135 responding schools in the previous 5 years, one in six reduced art education funding, a majority of schools reported that arts is not as important as other subjects, and “on average, across all grade levels pre-school through middle school, the largest amount of time per week spent in teaching visual arts and music to students is 30 to 60 minutes for each subject; for dance and drama, 1 to 30 minutes for each subject.” (p. 2) As this is the most updated report to be found on this topic in Kentucky, further current understanding on the topic is anecdotal. Current public-school arts education in Whitley County is comparable or could even be less than the reports of the 2005 Kentucky Arts Councils. 

Learning art history helps humans understand their place in the present. View and exploring artists and their work from the past provides a snap shot into how these artists viewed the world around them at the time. 

In order to fill the arts education gap in Whitley County, the Extension Fine Arts program is currently offering and has offered a number of skilled arts classes with an arts history component. These lessons come in the form of in-person, hands on instruction, as well as take-home art packets for families. The artists life, art genre, and artistic style from around the world is covered, as well as historic context. Artists explored include: Vincent Van Gogh, Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Hispanic artist Frida Kahlo and more.    

Post evaluations for two in-person art history classes reported that there was little awareness or knowledge of the artists in discussion. These reports found that, before the Georgia O’Keeffe and Impressionism art history classes, only 12.5% of participants were very informed about the artists presented. Following the Georgia O’Keeffe and Impressionism arts history class evaluations, it was discovered that 75% of students felt they could teach the information to others. Art history has a place in the community as one student reported, “I loved the art history part. I’d like to see a once a week class for a month on the style of painting with a different project for each week. That way we could learn more about the artist and get a better grasp on the techniques.”